ANC to take on DA in hotly contested eThekwini by-election
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The newly-appointed ANC's eThekwini regional task team is set to pass its first political test if its wins the ward 64 by-election and takes the ward from the DA.
The ward which incorporates parts of Montclair, Clairwood and Yellowwood Park, south of Durban is up for grabs following the resignation of the DA councillor who went into business according to his party.
The demographic of the ward has changed over the years, added to by the relocation of students from tertiary institutions. There are also few informal settlements and the recent relocation of flood victims for whom KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements purchased a R33 million flat, which was viewed as an ANC strategy to diversify the ward more with the hope of reducing the DA's influence.
The ANC eThekwini task team spokesperson Thinta Cibane said the party always contests all wards with the intention to win. He said the area is now diverse and no longer classified as a suburb for one particular race group, which means any party can win it.
'We are putting more effort to win the ward and even if we do not win we will make serious inroads. We will put up a good fight so it's going to be a hotly contested by-election," said Cibane.
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In response, the DA spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Sithembiso Ngema dismissed the ANC's claim to win the ward as wishful thinking, vowing that his party will retain the ward. Ngema who is also a councillor in eThekwini said the party has noted that whenever there was an opportunity to relocate people, the ANC led-eThekwini targeted areas populated by the DA supporters for political reasons. However, he said his party was not scared and it received positive feedback from all the residents of the ward during its voter registration drive last week. The ward election will be held next month.
With the new regional task team in place, the ANC is hoping to regain the lost ground following the humiliating defeat by Umkhonto weSizwe Party in last year's elections in the city. Jacob Zuma's party won the majority of votes followed by the DA, shoving the ANC to third place for the first time in the history of local government elections. With its sizable budget, the only metro in the province is expected to be a battleground for parties in next year's local government elections.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za
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